Thursday, 12 August 2010

blackQueen

For centuries in Europe and it's colonies, the dominant newer religion of Christianity has been flexing it's muscle and successfully purging the world of the old beliefs such as pre-Christian paganism and it's surviving adherents, the Witch-Cult. Much as unchecked industrialisation has purged the Earth of much of it's natural ecosystem and biodiversity, the militant materialism of the "new" religions has all but wiped out the nature-respecting Earth worship of the old beliefs.

Pete Jay (Assück), through his metal band blackQueen, posits an alternative interpretation of Argento's famous Witch cycle. He suggests that the Mothers Suspiriorum, Tenebrarum and Lachrymarum are not aimlessly malevolent in their intention to do harm to the human status quo. Rather, they are meting out punishment on humanity for the despoilment and destruction wrought on our planet in the name of "progress" and personal gain. They can also be seen to be reacting defensively to centuries of violent persecution from the establishment. Torture and execution at the hands of inquisitors and witch-hunters - not out of misunderstanding (as is often suggested by apologists), but a deliberate agenda of religious persecution with the ultimate aim of extermination.From this viewpoint the Three Mothers become sympathetic characters, in hiding for their very survival, only killing to protect their identities. This is a refreshingly thought provoking perspective, and adds a new dimension and depth to Argento's trilogy.

Thanks to Pete for letting me post blackQueen's '99 demo, Witch Metal, here on the EYE. It's a killer dose of filthy, raw, blackened occult metal followed by a great cover of Goblin's "Suspiria". You can and should download it by clicking on the Latin quote at the end of this post. A new incarnation of blackQueen is working on some fresh material and you can be in touch with them here and here.

Silentium
I do not know what price I shall have to pay for breaking what we alchemists call Silentium. The life experience of our colleague should teach us not to upset laymen by imposing our knowledge upon them. I, Varelli, an architect living in London, met the Three Mothers and designed and built for them three dwelling places. ...I failed to discover until too late that from these three locations the Three Mothers rule the world with sorrow, tears, and darkness... And I built their horrible houses, the repositories of all their filthy secrets...

The land upon which the three houses have been constructed will eventually become deathly and plague-ridden, so much so that the area all around will reek horribly. And that is the first key to the mothers' secret, truly the primary key. The second key to the poisonous secret of the three sisters is hidden in the cellar under their houses. There you can find both the picture and the name of the sister living in that house. This is the location of the second key. The third key can be found under the soles of your shoes; there is the third key.

Suspiriorum

THE THIRD KEY

Underneath the soles of your shoes Weeping in the dark, unbridled fear emerges Gripping, hollow, ripping, shallow, hanging over chasms, slipping She has a secret, old as time, know her name, know her crime Undefinable, her face is black Hell awaits behind that door, you are going to meet death now! Your throat is slit, pretty eyes cut out Your heart hangs on her bedroom wall bleeding, rotting in the dark

Great blog! Had this Black Queen demo a while... awesome stuff. I found you after seeing some of your posts on IC, and glad I did. Really enjoyed your Cronenberg posts below... just happens to be my favourite director too. Followed by Argento...

Coincidentally, I only just got around to watching Martyrs yesterday, and was completely blown away. Had kind of a Clive Barker vibe I thought - the idea of transcendence through extreme suffering. One of the best in a very long time.

Glad, you enjoyed the Cronen-posts. There's more of that coming when I get it together. Anyone whose fave directors are Cronenberg and ARgento is a bro, so please lurk often.

Yeah, there's a definite Barker vibe to Martyrs. Did you know Pascal Laugier was attached to Dimension's ailing HELLRAISER remake? I'm glad he walked off (was kicked off?) the project because I doubt he could have expressed his vision successfully working for the Weinstein assholes. However, if they'd just thrown 30-40 mil at him and left him alone to make his own Hellraiser, I'm sure it would have been a classic. A missed opportunity.

Agreed... Laugier could do wonders with Hellraiser if left to his own devices. Sadly, not to be. If there's any good to come out of a remake, it's that we may finally see a local DVD release for the original.

Although I'm really not a fan of the current remake trend, maybe I could warm to it if it was done well! The upcoming Videodrome remake has me well worried. I'm pretty sure it will be shocking and disturbing... just not in the fun way.

I think the HELLRAISER remake is officially dead. Dimension just announced in the last few days that they're doing another cheap sequel called HELLRAISER: REVELATIONS (what a fucked name). It starts shooting next month and it looks like Doug Bradley won't be going anywhere near it. Poor old Hellraiser franchise, it's taken a worse beating than most.

I'm not dead against remakes of films over 20 years old, eg: loved Dawn '04 and Aja's Hills Have Eyes (but I hate it when they remake new movies like [REC] and Let The Right One In). However, I just can't get behind a remake of any of Cronenberg's films. I just can't see it working AT ALL.

Captifs?? Don't know it, I'll look it up.

What country do you live in that you don't have a local release of Hellraiser?

Australia! Never seen it on DVD out here... could be wrong though. I used for work for a distro here in Melbourne that was in negotiations for the local DVD rights, and by the time I left it was still in limbo. Hellraiser and Hellbound are yet to be released on DVD in Australia as far as I know, but you can get the shitty third one.

You're right, the Hellraiser franchise has been well-and-truly sucked dry, and Hellraiser: Revelations is virtually guaranteed to suck huge quantities of ass.

I liked the Dawn remake and Aja's Hills Have Eyes... although I kind of expected more after High Tension. The original Hills is one of my all-time favourites, so Aja had his work cut out from the start. I also thought the Rob Zombie remake of Halloween was reasonable, if completely unnecessary.

Cronenberg is a different issue altogether; so uniquely imaginative an artist that any attempt to replicate his vision is doomed to fail. The only thing I dread more than a Videodrome remake is a Suspiria remake, which apparently is still 'in development'. There is no way it could be anything other than fucking cinematic blasphemy. Even Dario himself never reached those heights again.

I agree completely about the Hollywood remakes of foreign films. Pure plagiarism for lazy mainstream audiences. I heard the producers of Twilight are supposed be remaking Martyrs with Kristen Stewart - I really hope that's a fucking joke.

I thought you were gonna say Oz. I've been sitting on my Anchor Bay discs of HELLRAISER & II for years, so didn't even notice their absence here!

As far as Aja: have you seen the reviews for Piranha hitting the net today and yesterday? It's a critical smash! I'm looking forward to seeing it next thurs.

Yeah, the Suspiria remake is indeed a Blasphemy and will suck. But on the plus side we've got Aronofsky's quite obvious Argento homage BLACK SWAN out this year. It looks like a melange of Suspiria and Opera visually. I'm a big Aronofsky fan, so I'm more than intrigued.